After a dreadful putting round on Friday, Scottie Scheffler switched back to old faithful and switched back to making birdies Sunday.
The world No. 2 made seven birdies and a hole-out eagle to shoot a bogey-free 9-under 62 at El Camaleon Golf Course at the 2022 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. It’s the lowest final-round score of his PGA Tour career and lifted him to a five-way tie for third.
Without Shotlink data this week in Riviera Maya, Mexico, it’s hard to say definitively how poorly Scheffler putted on Friday, but it was poor enough for him to shelve the Scotty Cameron T-5.5 Proto mallet putter he used two weeks ago at the CJ Cup in South Carolina and return to the model that he used to win the Masters.
“It never goes too far away,” Scheffler said of his Scotty Cameron Newport 2. “I went back to my old putter for the round yesterday. I think when I see so many putts go up to the cup and not go in, it was like, well, maybe I’ll just make a change and see what happens. This is the time of year when I’ll usually experiment with stuff. It’s probably something I’ll continue to fiddle around with.”
Scheffler’s day got off to a promising start with a hole-out at the par-4 third hole from 108 yards.
“There was nobody at the green and I hit a good shot and it looked like it landed close, but we couldn’t really see, couldn’t really hear anything, nobody was clapping or nothing. So when I got up there, I was like, ‘Oh, man, it must have spun off the green. Then I checked the cup and it was in,” Scheffler said.
How much was Scheffler thinking about the fact he needed either a win or to finish solo second to overtake Rory McIlroy and reclaim world No. 1?
“I was just trying to show up and have a good round of golf,” he said. “Rankings are great, it was definitely fun being No. 1 in the world, it’s definitely something I hope to get back to, but it’s not something that’s going to occupy a lot of my thoughts.”
Scheffler is scheduled to play next week in the Cadence Houston Open, a tournament he nearly won last year. Confidence is high after shooting his sixth round of 62 or lower since the beginning of 2019, most of any player on Tour in that span.
“A few things go my way, a few more putts go in, I could have been right in the tournament,” Scheffler said.
Brian Harman notches best finish since 2017
Brian Harman had a great week – and that’s not even counting his Georgia Bulldogs pounding the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday.
“Yeah, Dawgs on top, that was a fun game yesterday,” he said. “Glad to see (head coach Kirby Smart) get those guys ready to go.”
Harman was ready to go too, shooting a bogey-free 5-under 66 on Sunday to improve to 19-under 265 and finish alone in second. It marked Harman’s best finish since he won the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship, and just his second runner-up finish. (He tied for second at the 2017 U.S. Open.) Harman now has 25 top-10s since the start of the 2017-18 season, most of any player without a win in that span (second-most: 21, Tommy Fleetwood and Adam Hadwin).
“Game’s been great,” said Harman, who made an ace on Friday and just two bogeys all week. “Haven’t really had the results that I felt like I should have had lately, so it’s nice to have a good finish.”
David Lingmerth records first top-10 since 2017
Russell Henley wasn’t the only one to break a five-year drought. While Henley hadn’t won since the 2017 Houston Open, David Lingmerth hadn’t recorded a top-10 finish since the 2017 Quicken Loans National.
Lingmerth, a 35-year-old native of Sweden, birdied three of the last four holes to shoot a final-round 6-under 65 and shoot 17-under 267. That was good for a T-8 finish, his best result on the PGA Tour since a T-5 in July 2017.
Lingmerth, who has played part time with past champion status for the last several years while battling a myriad of injuries, regained his Tour card by winning the Korn Ferry Tour’s Nationwide Children’s Championship in late August.
“I feel like I can, you know, actually play golf again,” he said. “I’ve been going through a little bit of this and that and struggled with injuries and confidence. I’m starting to put a few things together…I’m just happy to be back and playing somewhat the way I know I’m capable of.”
Seamus Power powers to FedEx Cup top spot
Different country, different week, almost same result.
Seamus Power, who won the Butterfield Bermuda Championship last Sunday, closed with a bogey-free 3-under 68 and finished T-3 in Mexico. Back-to-back strong results lifted Power to the top of the FedEx Cup standings through seven events with 656 points. When told that it was the first time in his career that he led the season-long points race, Power said simply, “Oh, really?”
Power had a wild third round that included a hole-in-one and two other hole outs. On Sunday, he couldn’t hole the big putts as he had the week before on his way to lifting his second trophy.
“My speed was just a fraction off. Like early in the week before the rain they were a little quicker and I couldn’t just quite get adjusted just to that slightly slower speed. But it was good to hang in there,” he said. “Hit a lot of good shots today, I was able to get a high finish out of it. Obviously just couldn’t quite get it going today and put any pressure on Russell.”
